Choose your future: a new law aims to provide better support for skills development
By . Like many, my friend Paul stepped out of college and has struggled to find jobs with decent wages.
It is hard for Paul and his family to make ends meet, much less balance the increasing costs of baseball, soccer and other expenses required to enable his son to take advantage of opportunities. More...
Using Wikipedia: a scholar redraws academic lines by including it in his syllabus
By . If you are familiar with the phrase “hidden curriculum” (referring to rules, norms and behaviors that are taught intentionally or not in nearly all classes), then the idea that Wikipedia is not a place to find “legitimate” information on a subject falls well within the purview of the term. More...
The end of college? Or a new beginning?
By . I call it the Revolution of 2012.
During that year Harvard and MIT announced their EdX consortium, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng founded Coursera and Stanford created the the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning. More...
W(h)ither the Liberal Arts?
By . In 1828, a faculty committee at Yale declared that the aim of a liberal education “was not to teach that which is peculiar to any one of the professions, but to lay the foundation which is common to them all” by imparting information and training students in how to think. More...
Twitter takes center stage in Common Core debate
By . After the rocky road of the test-based accountability era, the next stage of education reform seemed to promise a smoother ride. In 2010 the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which set off high expectations for student academic performance in mathematics and English language arts, were adopted in 45 of the 50 states with strong bi-partisan support. More...
Cyberbullying: a virtual menace takes its toll on college students
By . However, new research shows that cyberbullying is becoming a serious problem on college campuses, especially for female students. Depression and even suicidal thoughts have been found to be high among victims of cyberbullying. In fact, cyberbullying has been associated with a three-fold increase in depression in female college students. More...
For transgender students, a divided pool of college options
By . College hostilities impose high risks with tragic consequences. Suicide, depression and drug abuse are much more prevalent among transgender students because of the discrimination they experience. More...
Shades of segregated past in today’s campus troubles
By . Demands to rename Tillman Hall at Clemson University, the circulation of a video showing a racist chant at the University of Oklahoma and the discovery of a fraternity pledge book discussing lynching at North Carolina State University demonstrate how persistent racial issues are on college campuses. More...
STEMming reverse brain drain: what would make foreign students stay in the US?
By . Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines in the US have come to heavily rely on international students, who constitute about a third of all STEM graduate students in the US. More...
Is online education good or bad? And is this really the right question?
By . For the past twenty years, I’ve heard this question asked many times about online education. It might be tempting for enthusiasts to say “of course it is good,” but I see this as a kind of “trick question.” We should consider asking this question in the context of the traditional classroom. More...
